Post-Apocalypse Is Personal in Sweet Tooth

Comic book writer Jeff Lemire specializes in post-apocalyptic storytelling that’s far more subtle than the nightmare scenarios typically churned out by pop culture.

Instead of bombastic crises wracked by interstellar conflict, his work takes a more personal approach to dealing with the standard tropes of science fiction and horror.

“The idea is to take a high-concept, clichéd, almost B-movie setup, but then execute it in a very intimate and quiet way,” the writer told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “I did the same thing with The Nobody. I try to focus in on character and emotion and that allows the high-concept setup, in this case the sci-fi or post-apocalyptic elements, to become more allegorical. In short, it’s a character-driven story, not a plot-driven one.”

It’s not that Lemire’s work doesn’t contain violence. His terrifying comic Sweet Tooth finds its half-boy, half-deer protagonist Gus at the mercy of a post-apocalyptic outpost where sinister, brutal forces experiment on human-animal hybrids. (Volume 2 of Sweet Tooth, which collects issues No. 6 through 11 of the comic, will be released Tuesday by Vertigo with a $13 cover price. Issue No. 17 arrives Jan. 5, 2011.) Meanwhile, Lemire’s second issue of DC Comics’ new Superboy series, released last week, follows the Smallville psychodrama of Superman clone Kon-El.

Lemire’s character-driven narratives are the perfect antidote to the apocalypse fatigue that has desensitized comics lately, in story arcs like the galaxy-shattering conflict of Infinite Crisis and the zombie apocalypse of Blackest Night, both of which also featured Kon-El.

The Canadian writer’s stories draw from his upbringing in the small Ontario farming community of Essex County, which he extrapolated into the award-winning Top Shelf comic Essex County. Recently named one of Canada’s top five books of the decade, it’s set for a new printing in January.

Lemire’s infectious indie spirit haunts the proceedings in Sweet Tooth and in Superboy, which is set in rural Kansas rather than shiny Metropolis. Wired.com talked with him about his comics crossover, his upcoming Essex County sequel (titled The Underwater Welder) and whether Superboy can ever break out of Superman’s shadow.

Wired.com:Sweet Tooth and The Nobody, which is a remix of H.G. Wells‘ The Invisible Man, knit together scientific and social breakdown in interesting ways. What’s your personal take on science and tech?

Jeff Lemire: Well, for me it’s more about what depicting science in that way reveals about the characters. My characters — whether it be Gus or Jepperd or Singh in Sweet Tooth, or Griffen in The Nobody — are all people at a crossroads and struggling with their faith. And having science fail the characters or their worlds can really bring that out.

Wired.com: Apocalypse narratives are usually abstract popcorn conflicts. Your comics bring the scale down to a more devastating personal level.

Lemire: When a society or community within one of my stories inevitably falls apart, it makes the characters turn inward and take a new step as individuals. So these are all ways of pushing the focus back on the characters themselves, and their arcs.

Wired.com: By the way, congratulations! The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named Essex County one of the five best reads of the decade. How have you assimilated the jump from indie comics to Superboy?

Lemire: I don’t know that I have. For me, there is no jump per se, because I’m still doing indie comics as well. I’m writing and drawing a new book for Top Shelf, called The Underwater Welder, that will be the follow-up to Essex County. [Editor’s note: A new printing of the collected Essex County arrives in January.]

Wired.com: Do you find that crossing over between indie comics like Essex County and mainstream superhero comics like Superboy helps you?

Lemire: In a lot of ways. Jumping back and forth between Superboy, Sweet Tooth and The Underwater Welder helps to keep me fresh on each project. In the end, I try to put as much of myself into each as I can.

Wired.com: Speaking of Superboy, what will it take to get the character out of Superman’s shadow?

Lemire: Well, I think I have done a good job of that so far. I’ve written the first eight scripts, and there hasn’t been a single specific reference to Superman yet. The book really has been about Superboy becoming his own man.

Wired.com: Once Superboy gets around to Superman, will it have anything to do with Superboy being a clone? That troubling flux between the personal and the scientific seems right up your alley.

Lemire: The clone and science elements of the character are key, and we will see those being played up and exploited as we move forward. But I can’t say too much about that without spoiling things! [Editor’s note: Issue No. 3 of Superboy arrives Jan. 3, 2011.]